Game counters
Category
Household and miscellaneous
Date
c. 1700 - c. 1840
Materials
Mother-of-pearl
Order this imageCollection
Lacock, Wiltshire
NT 997531
Summary
Collection of 57 antique Chinese carved mother-of-pearl gaming tokens contained in a Dewurst’s Sylko Machine twist fast colour box. Possibly used with the Pope Joan game. See NT 997308.
Full description
These include 36 thin mother-of-pearl fish counters, 9 thicker mother-of-pearl fish counters with black ink drawings, 10 mother-of-pearl round counters and 2 rectangular ones. “Mother of pearl gaming counters were handcrafted by artisans in China from circa 1700 to circa 1840, for use in scoring and bidding in card games in the Western world. (…) The production of mother of pearl gaming counters coincided with increased trade between the Western world and China. At that time, Western society had a fashion for playing card games, including Ombre, Quadrille and Pope Joan, which required counters for scoring. The trade in mother of pearl gaming counters continued until around 1840, when whist, which requires a different scoring method, became the most popular card game in the Western world. The production of counters gradually ceased around 1840.” Collection: Chinese gaming counters | Archives at Yale
Provenance
Purchased with the family collection of Abbey contents in situ from Mrs Petronella Burnett-Brown December 2009.